2 JAKE WILSON (PART 2)

Martha was startled and went into a daze. Only after a short period a low whimper woke her up from her stupor and she finally noticed the baby lying next to the woman. On careful observation she found that the baby was a boy. He would be barely a few days old and on the first glance

appeared weak and feeble. Apparently the baby was malnourished and was also sick. Upon this discovery an unfathomable anger rose in Martha's heart. Well one can't blame her for being angry. She was a woman longing for a child while the one who was blessed with one was obviously not taking good care of him, why would she not be angry. In her anger she jerked the woman lying there to wake her up and give her a good scolding. But to her surprise she got no reaction. Even after pushing and pulling for a long while there was no reaction. She was horrified with the situation and immediately squatted down to take the pulse of the woman. It took all her concentration to feel a feeble pulse; obviously the woman was dying if not dead. This outcome terrified Martha as she diverted her attention on the infant and found the little guy's condition to be a little better. She was a strong minded woman and the wife of a person serving the nation. All these years spending with him and his comrades she had learnt to control her emotions and remain calm in situations like this so that she could think of ways to overcome them. Showing her presence of mind she immediately took out her mobile phone and called for the ambulance and the police. Although she was in the middle of a mountainous highway but she could thank the heavens as the government had set up a lot of medical and security checkpoints on the routes of tourist destinations to tackle emergency situations. Soon the ambulance arrived and under the concerned gaze of Martha and her students the child and the woman was taken away to the nearby medical centre from where they were referred to the biggest hospital in Mumbai. Martha gave the responsibility of her students to the other teacher in charges and accompanied the cops who arrived later to the City Hospital.

Daniel received a phone call from Martha and as he was off duty, he went straight to the Hospital to meet her. When he reached there he got the sad news of the woman dying from Martha. Post-mortem reports stated "Over-Exhaustion" and "excessive dehydration". Fortunately for the little guy helped arrived at time and his condition was stabilized. Right now he was sleeping in the general ward for kids while enjoying the care of the nurse. Police reports came in shortly afterwards along with the genetic reports stating that the woman was the mother of the child. She was a single mother whose husband died a long time back and was from a village near to the place Martha found them. The pitiful lady was named Eva and even in the pregnant state she had to work hard to make the ends meet. This was the cruelty of human nature. If there's a bright side, dark side exists too. A pregnant lady had to work to death so that she could sustain the life resting in her womb. But fate played a cruel joke on her when robbers broke into her house snatching each and everything in her possession pushing her towards an impending doom. It was the benevolence of a kind old lady who took care of her during the last months of her pregnancy; otherwise she would have not lived to see the face of the little guy. Although she was saved and successfully delivered her baby, she couldn't even enjoy the feeling of being a mother when the old lady fell severely ill and was taken away by her grandson to the city. Left alone Eva had to work hard to make ends meet. That day her child was sick so she wanted to take him to a doctor. Due to the lack of resources in the village she had to take him and walk to the nearby medical checkpoint for the treatment. Unfortunately the exhaustion took its toll and she fainted under the same tree while resting where Martha had found her.

Hearing Eva's story Martha's eyes moistened. She was trying hard not to shed tears. This world is cruel. One has to accept this reality. It's not fair to everyone but it also gives opportunities to others. While it gave Eva a merciless and pitiful death but to the little guy it was a boon as what he got was Martha and Daniel. He got parents who would love him with his life. He got a life which he would never have got with Eva. Yes! After cremating Eva and fulfilling her last rites Daniel and Martha applied to adopt the little guy. Since the little guy had no legal issues concerning his parents and was not affiliated to any orphanages; there were no issues adopting him fulfilling the couple's long last wish of becoming a parent.

Since then 18 years have passed. Today the entire Wilson house was bustling as this day 18 years ago the apple of their eye was brought. Since then 25th may has been celebrated as the child's birthday obviously who was now an adult (1). Today Martha was wearing a gorgeous blue dress. She was grinning from ear to ear as it was her son's birthday. She looked at her son's locked door and then at the wall clock which showed the time at 7 am. She was a little surprised and grumbled in an annoyed tone "That rascal! Other days he wakes up at 4 every morning, making me wait so much today." But her face changed when she turned around only to see a tall and handsome young man smiling at her.

"Sorry for the wait My Lady." The man smiled mischievously at her.

"You jumped out of the window again!! JAKE"